It All Works Somehow in the End
by fabulousbackspace
Summary: "So you're staying in a city that you never really liked because you met a girl." Stacie sounded befuddled. "Um…yes?" "Are you serious right now, Mitchell? That's some sick How I Met Your Mother shit you're pulling."
1. I Met Someone

**AN: Hey guys, first Pitch Perfect Fic I've ever written. Hopefully you guys like it.**

 **I do not own any part of Pitch Perfect.**

" _Hey! Where are you now?"_

"Um..Los Angeles."

" _Los…what? What are you still doing there it's been like a month."_

Beca hesitated at that. She knew Stacie would catch on that something's different.

" _Bec? What's up? You said you'd never stay in LA longer than a week."_ Stacie sounded concerned, a regular tone that Beca has heard for a few months now.

"I just thought, you know, the wedding is soon. I'm the best woman, or whatever. Might as well stay for a while and help out." Beca knew Stacie wouldn't buy it, but maybe it would give her more time to build up her confidence.

" _Whatever, Mitchell. Keep secrets from me."_

"Come on, Stace, don't do this."

" _Then tell me why you're stopping the 'Ultimate Beca Mitchell World Tour.'"_

Beca sucked in a breath. She knew she had to tell her but it's not that easy when you've spent the past three years swearing off relationships and suddenly—

"I met someone."

It's simple and it's juvenile but the wait for Stacie's response still scares the absolute shit out of her.

" _Oh."_

* * *

 **Flashback – Three Years Ago**

 _They were having another fight._

 _It's what they always seem to do these days. Beca had finally gotten a paying job at the recording studio she interned at for what seemed like decades. It was a huge step for her, and she took on the extra hours hoping it wouldn't put a strain on her already hectic relationship. Alex wasn't doing too well on the whole "handling change" aspect._

" _Alex, you said yourself you were proud of me!" Beca was fed up. Alex had come home drunk almost every night, and pick a fight about Beca not being home as much as she should._

" _Yeah, back then! Now it's taking you away from me!"_

" _It's my career!" Beca shouted. "It's important to me and I'm sorry it's taking up a lot of my time—"_

" _A lot of your time? It's taking up all your time! Is this silly little job more important to you than I am?"_

" _Maybe!"_

 _Beca regretted it the moment it slipped out. Alex looked like steam was coming out of her ears and the little vein was popping out of her forehead._

" _Fine!" Alex screamed. "I'm going out, don't bother to follow me."_

 _The door slammed shut behind her, the force of it enough to shake the entire apartment._

* * *

Beca could hear Stacie's breathing through the phone, but she hadn't said anything for about a minute.

" _So you're staying in a city that you never really liked because you met a girl."_ Stacie sounded befuddled.

"Um…yes?"

" _Are you fucking serious right now Mitchell?"_ Stacie shouted. _There goes the time bomb,_ Beca thought. _"That's some sick How I Met Your Mother shit you're pulling."_

"Stace, I'm serious. We met at Aubrey and Jesse's engagement party and she's so amazing and this is going to sound so queer balls but I think I'm in love with her."

" _Bec, last time you said you were in love with someone, you left the country."_

"Way to over-exaggerate things."

* * *

 **Flashback – same night as before**

 _Beca, Amy, and Stacie sat at a bar in downtown Denver, Amy already halfway to hammered-ville._

" _I just can't believe she fucking cheated on you," Stacie said. "I mean, you gave her everything and she throws it away because some scheduling conflicts."_

 _Beca just shrugged. "I don't know I can be blamed for this, too."_

 _Amy whipped around from trying to get the bartender's attention at Beca's statement. "Nuh-uh, Shortstack, you do not get to blame yourself for her cheating on you."_

" _Let's say that she cheated one more time, shall we?" Beca was tired. It had been a long night, from crying on the couch after Alex slammed the door, to Stacie showing up at her apartment saying that Amy had called her with the news that she saw Alex fucking some random guy in the bathroom at a club, to moving all of her things in a mad panic to Stacie's apartment._

" _Jesus, I loved her. I've loved her for years and then I get this jumpstart on my career and everything goes south," Beca said. "Maybe the career is toxic."_

" _What? Beca! You're not throwing away your dream job because of a girl!" Stacie exclaimed, absolutely appalled that the shorter girl would think such a thing._

" _But I haven't really done much of my own stuff lately, I've just been producing other people's stuff," Beca said. She suddenly looked like she had a plan. "What if I just take a break from producing and go back to mixing. I was happier with that. Also I need to get out of here I can't walk through Denver without thinking about Alex."_

 _Amy had her mouth hanging open, trying to get Beca's plan to catch up with her intoxicated brain. "Okay…" she said slowly, "so where do you think you would go?"_

" _Well, Cynthia Rose is in London. I could go see her for a bit." Beca reasoned._

 _Stacie nearly choked on her drink. "London?! Bec, when you said get out of here I thought you meant out of the city not out of the fucking country!"_

 _Beca didn't seem fazed. "It'd be something new. And I have the money my dad saved up to go to LA, which never happened. I could do this, guys."_

 _Amy and Stacie gave each other a look across Beca from where they were sitting. Amy took a breath. "Okay, shorty, whatever you want to do we'll help."_

* * *

"I promise, Stacie, she's different," Beca said. "She's something special."

" _Okay, Becs…just be careful."_

 **AN: Reviews help!**


	2. Chloe Beale

**The Engagement Party – One month before Beca and Stacie's phone call.**

Beca sat at the bar, watching Jesse and Aubrey while they laughed at some story a guy was telling them. She hadn't meant to land in Los Angeles – she was actually trying to stay far away from it for the time being – but Jesse had called her when she was in San Francisco, saying that he had just proposed to his high school sweetheart and God forbid she would miss the engagement party. She feels kind of bad that she hasn't kept up contact very well so she forces herself to say yes.

They were cute together – Beca would have to admit that. She just can't wrap her head around the fact that the two people who she has known since the tenth grade were actually getting _married_. They grew up a lot together in the few years since she's actually seen them. Sure, there's been the Skype call every now and then, and phone calls and text messages whenever she lands someplace new, but it's been ages since she's seen her friends, and she missed them.

Beca tore her eyes away from the couple to order another drink when a pair of eyes caught hers. Across the ballroom from her was a girl, most likely around Beca's age, and all Beca could focus on were the brightest, most mesmerizing blue eyes she had ever seen. It took her a few moments to register the fact that the girl was smiling at her, and it took all of her concentration to be able to work her mouth to be able to smile back. She was caught in a trance, just staring at the girl until a group of guys walked in between them and the eye contact was lost. When they passed, Beca searched for the eyes again, but the girl had left her spot. Shaking her head, trying to snap out of her reverie, Beca turned back to the bar fully and ordered another beer when her sight was engulfed by red hair.

"Hi!" The girl smiled, "you're Beca, right? Jesse's friend?"

How this girl knew Beca's name was unknown to her. "Yeah, that's me, the old friend. How do you know Aubrey and Jesse?"

"I'm Aubrey's best friend and maid of honor," she said, with a hint of pride. "We met at work a few years ago. My name's Chloe; Chloe Beale."

Chloe hadn't dropped her smile for a second while she introduced herself. It was as if it was permanently shaped on her face. It was contagious, though, and suddenly Beca found herself smiling as well.

"Well, Chloe Beale, it's nice to meet you. I gotta ask, though, how did you know who I was? Do you just have the dirt on everyone at this party?"

Chloe laughed. "Almost," she responded with a wink. "Although I don't know much about you, I've just seen you in some pictures around Aubrey and Jesse's apartment. You're much cuter in person, though, I'd have to say."

Beca felt her neck heat up with a blush. _Did she just flirt with me?_

Chloe laughed again and took a seat at the bar next to Beca. "So tell me, how did you end up in those pictures?"

"Jesse and I met in high school. He was my next-door neighbor when I moved to Georgia after freshman year. I kind of just met Aubrey through association."

"Did you go to college with them?" Chloe asked.

"No," Beca said. "I went out of state with a couple of my other friends." Beca didn't know what was happening. One minute she was perfectly fine sitting alone at the bar just watching her friends be happy but now she's telling this girl she just barely met her life story.

"Oh my gosh, that's so cool!" The girl seemed to get excited about almost everything, and she still had that damn smile on her face. "I wanted to go out of state," Chloe said, "but it was too much money for my parents. I ended up going to Florida State."

"So you're from Florida?"

"Yep! Tampa, born and raised! Except for that one year in elementary school where my dad got relocated to Miami so we all went there for a year. But I like to pretend that doesn't count." Chloe told the story so quickly. Normally Beca wasn't one for such a long interaction with someone, especially when they went on and on about something. But there was just _something_ about Chloe that kept her so intrigued to learn more about her.

* * *

She ended up talking to Chloe about pretty much everything: where she went to school, what she does for work, how she's spent the past three years traveling from place to place. She just couldn't shut up. They talked for so long that they didn't realize the crowd of the party slowly start to leave, and it wasn't until the bartender was cleaning up the bar that Beca realized how late it was.

She just couldn't stop talking to Chloe, though.

She waited for a pause in Chloe speaking that she butted in with, "Shit it's almost 2 a.m. I should probably start to walk home."

"Oh!" Chloe said. Beca thought she imagined the hint of disappointment in her eyes. "Can I walk you?"

Beca smiled at that. Maybe Chloe didn't want to stop just as much as she didn't.

"Sure."

* * *

It was maybe a fifteen-minute walk from the party to Beca's AirBnb apartment that she's renting for a couple nights.

"Well, this is me," she said.

"Damn," Chloe breathed out, "I was hoping I would have just a few more minutes."

They both just chuckled a bit, until a small pause took over. It wasn't awkward, more like comfortable, and new feeling to Beca.

"So…" Chloe started, "I feel like I know too much about you to just never see you again."

"But you will see me again. We've still got this wedding to go to, and you've got to be on Aubrey's beck and call." Beca actually felt kind of bad for Chloe, she's the one who has to deal with Aubrey's wrath. And of all the things that had changed since high school, Beca would bet anything that Aubrey's controlling attitude hadn't. But she figured from tonight that Chloe seems like the type of person that could handle the crazy woman.

"Yeah, but that seems a bit too organized to me." Chloe did that damn wink again, and Beca felt herself weaken just at the sight of it.

"Do you maybe want to go get dinner tomorrow night?" Beca asked. "Wi–with me. Ya know, on a non-wedding occasion."

Chloe laughed, shaking her head back and forth and Beca thought she had misread everything until Chloe shyly smiled and said, "I'd love to."

"Cool," was all that Beca said, and gave Chloe two thumbs up before Chloe laughed again.

"Pick you up at 7. Goodnight, Beca," Chloe said with _another_ wink.

Beca smiled the cheesiest smile she has in a long time and was stuck to her spot as Chloe turned and started to walk away.

"Goodnight," she called, finally gaining control of her brain.

Beca's smile didn't leave her face as she walked into the apartment and leaned her weight on the closed door."

Suddenly Beca panicked as a thought went through her head.

 _Shit. I'm not supposed to be here for more than a week._


	3. I'll Stay

**Denver – 2 years before the phone call**

"Beca!"

Her name sounded more like a screaming bird than Stacie's voice. She didn't have much time to make fun of it, though, because she was suddenly tackled to the ground in the middle of the Denver International Airport baggage claim.

"Stacie, oh my God you're making a scene."

Stacie just giggled and helped Beca to her feet. "Hey, I can't help it," Stacie said, "I haven't seen my best friend in a year. A whole year, Becs!"

"Yeah, yeah, I missed you, too Conrad." Beca made a disgruntled face before adding, "I can't believe you still live in Denver.

"Oh come on, Beca, I know you hate Denver because of memories or whatever–"

"Oh no, I hated Denver before you even moved here," Beca interrupted.

Stacie rolled her eyes. She probably missed Beca's annoying attitude the most in their year apart. "Okay fine. Let's go, I want to hear all about your adventures."

* * *

They ended up going to a bar, because what else would Stacie and Beca do besides drink?

"I think I liked Ibiza the best," Beca said. "The music scene is just so crazy there. Everyone loved my sets and, honestly, if I didn't have a gig lined up in Venice the following week I would never have left."

"Shit, your life is so cool. You're literally a fucking rock star. You travel around the world and play music and have groupies and have wild parties in hotel rooms," Stacie was getting past the point of tipsy, and Beca took the glass out of her hand before Stacie made a mess with all of the hand movements she was doing.

"Technically I'm not a rock star. And I don't have groupies," Beca defended.

"But you totally have wild parties in hotel rooms," Stacie shot her a knowing look but the alcohol in her system prevented her from keeping a straight face.

"Possibly," Beca said. "But, I don't know, maybe it's time I figure out the whole LA thing. I never really got to do it because I came here after college, so maybe I should just go. Plus, I have some old friends that live there."

"Oh yeah!" Stacie blurted out. "That puppy boy and his drill sergeant!"

"Jesse and Aubrey, yeah. It'd be nice to see them."

"Don't get all sappy on me, rock star," Stacie teased.

Beca scowled. "Not a rock star."

Stacie shrugged Beca's argument off, slamming her drink on the bar counter before looking at Beca seriously. "But Becs, you gotta promise me somethin'."

Caught off guard by her change in demeanor, Beca hesitated before asking, "Yes..Stacie?"

"You have to stay here for a bit," she said. "I missed my best friend. I only get Skype and phone calls and an insane amount of text messages but I haven't had my true Beca time. Stay here in Denver for two weeks, and then you can go off to LA or Portugal or the North Pole, wherever. Just promise you'll hang out."

Beca's hesitation vanished and was instead replaced with guilt. She really hadn't been home in a year. Not that she really had a 'home.' As soon as she started to get her own mixes out in London, a few clubs picked her up asking her to play their weekend shows and soon she had agents packing the room every night just begging to sign her. It was overwhelming at first, never truly being on the talent end of the producing trade. She eventually talked with one agent, and that took her to Dublin the following morning; and then on to Amsterdam and then Ibiza and soon all over Europe. Touring with her music just sort of became her life. She never settled in one place for too long, but she also never had time to take a break and go back home to Stacie.

But looking at Stacie now, she's suddenly reminded of why she chose to go to Denver in the first place: because Beca simply couldn't picture her life without Stacie. She hasn't put any pieces in her head on how she's going to work out this break before she's saying yes.

"Okay, Stace. I'll stay."

Stacie suddenly found new energy in her drunken state and her eyes were overtaken with new bright light. She squealed in excitement and hugged Beca, nearly knocking them off their barstools.

And it was the first time in months that she truly felt stable again.

* * *

Two weeks later Beca was packing up her suitcases for her move to Los Angeles when her phone rang. It was her agent Donald, and she sighed in frustration before tapping the screen to answer the call.

"Mitchell," she answered.

 _"Beca, I need you in New York. Tonight."_

"What? No, I told you I'm going to LA tomorrow. I'm starting a base there."

She heard the aggravated groan that Donald let out from the other end. _"Mitchell, I need you here. I have weeks full of spin time set up and everyone is asking for you. I need you in New York."_

"What do you mean you have spin time set up? I haven't agreed to anything."

 _"Yeah, yeah, I know. I'm sorry, alright? But everything happened so fast when they heard I was here and now everyone wants DJ Mitch to spin at their clubs."_

"Oh, fuck you, Donald," Beca said. "You knew I had plans that did not involve New York."

 _"Look I'm sorry, Becs. Just get out here, please."_

She growled into the phone. "Book me a flight, Donald." And she hung up.

She rushed to get everything into her suitcases and managed to throw everything in bags so she could get to the front door, ready to jump in her Uber waiting outside the apartment. While she was running through the kitchen, she yelled out to Stacie that she had to leave and that she was sorry but she didn't get a response.

A glance at the clock above the sink shoved her back into reality, remembering that Stacie was at work until 5 and it was only 2:30. She remembered that it was Tuesday, and, of course, she got called to leave for a gig she didn't want when Stacie wasn't even here so they could have a proper goodbye. Beca made a note to call her from the car as she burst out the front door and raced down the apartment steps to the car.

Her call went straight to voicemail and Beca felt even more guilt knowing she was bring a real dick of a best friend for leaving like this.

The beep sounded, signaling for Beca to start talking. She took a deep breath before rushing out, "Stace, I am so sorry I'm doing this. I got a call from Donald; they need me in New York tonight. I'm headed to the airport now and I really didn't want to get your voicemail. I'm sorry. I love you, and I miss you, and I promise I will come back more. I'm sorry, Stacie."

She hung up, feeling sick to her stomach at the way she was leaving.

LA was going to have to wait for now.

 **AN: So I know you guys wanted the date to be in this chapter, but I promise it will be in the next. I just needed to set up some more backstory and basically explain why Beca didn't get to LA for so long. Thanks for reading!**


	4. Something Good

**Los Angeles — one week after the engagement party**

For the past three years, Beca hasn't really made a certain city her home. She's never stayed in one place long enough to settle down and every time she truly tried she was swept away on another tour. She's never rented an apartment with the intention of living in it long term so she's been spending her days as a full-time resident of Airbnb.

She actually doesn't know how to find an actual apartment, either, so she calls Jesse.

Beca probably should have expected the interrogation she would get from him when she mentioned staying in Los Angeles. " _Why are you moving?_ " Jesse asked first. " _Does Stacie know? Are you going back to producing? How long are you staying?_ " It's like spitfire, and Jesse sounds so frantic when he asks the questions.

"Whoa, dude, can you, like, calm down," Beca responded. She takes a deep breath while she finds her answers and tells Jesse, "No, Stacie doesn't know yet, I'll tell her. I don't know what I'm going to do here and I don't know how long I'm staying. It's just a last minute decision."

" _But something had to make you decide to stay_ ," Jesse pushed. " _What is it?_ "

* * *

 **LA — the night after the party**

She was late.

Chloe said she would pick Beca up at 7. It was currently 6:42pm and Beca had half of her hair curled and no pants on.

It had been kind of a hectic day for her. She got home a little after 2 in the morning and then spent the remainder of the night trying to figure out how to extend her stay at the apartment she was in. When she finally did and marked that she was staying for another week, she then proceeded to freak out internally because she was going on a date for the first time in over three years. And with this insanely gorgeous girl that she met less than 12 hours ago nonetheless. When she finished her stress session it was well into mid-morning and she ended up working on a new mix of different PVRIS songs for hours until she fell asleep. When she woke up it was 6:30, thus beginning yet another freakout.

 _Shit shit shit shit shit._

Beca shoulder-checked the door as she ran past it to get to her makeup bag and she had tears in her eyes while she was putting on foundation. She managed to make herself look like she hadn't just slept all afternoon but when she checked her phone for the time it read 6:56pm.

 _Shit fuck._

She hoped to God that maybe Chloe would be the slightest bit irresponsible and be late to pick Beca up.

Beca had just finished pulling up her skinny jeans – a feat not easily accomplished while she was running throughout the apartment – and slipped on a pair of Converse before there was a knock at the door. Her phone read 6:59pm.

 _Of course she's on time._

She spun around in one spot until her bag caught her eye and she grabbed it during her run to the front door. When Beca reached for the doorknob she hesitated, partly for catching her breath and partly for realizing yet again how ridiculous this entire situation is.

There was another knock on the door before Beca panicked again. She took another deep breath before she opened the door, revealing the same beautiful redhead from the previous night, a wide, white smile stretching from ear to ear.

"HI!" Chloe said. Beca took a second to look at what Chloe was wearing, and she had to rush to pick her jaw up off the ground. It wasn't anything special, just a loose red tank top and a pair of _short_ white jean shorts but they made Chloe's tan legs seem like they go on forever and if Beca thought Chloe looked gorgeous the night before, this was a whole other level.

"You look amazing," Beca finally got out.

Chloe giggled, her smile somehow widening and said, "Thanks! You don't look so bad yourself. Now come on, slowpoke, I'm hungry!"

Beca didn't need to be told twice as she stepped out of the apartment and turned to lock the door behind her before Chloe grabbed her hand. It was a new feeling, a little foreign for Beca, but she found herself smiling as she was pulled down the steps.

"I was thinking we could go to the beach," Beca said. "I found this small place when I was down there a couple of days ago and it's only, like, a ten-minute walk from here."

Chloe gasped and gripped Beca's hand harder as she jumped up and down. "That sounds perfect!"

* * *

They ended up going to a small pizza place on the Venice boardwalk. It wasn't much, but Chloe thought it was amazing and she kept on smiling, so Beca couldn't help but smile the whole time. The two talked more while they ate — or whatever they hadn't talked about at the party the night before.

"So you said you met Aubrey through work," Beca began, trying to start a conversation.

"Yeah, I teach choir at the school that she taught at before she got into law school."

"You sing?"

Chloe's eyes lit up. "I love to sing! I lead the a cappella team at the high school and I used to sing in college. What about you?" She asked Beca, "You do all the fancy music stuff do you ever sing for your sets?"

"I have a couple mixes with my vocals in them," Beca responded. "But if you like to sing so much maybe you could be featured in one of them."

 _What the hell am I doing?_ Beca thought. _This girl is practically a stranger, why did I just offer to let her sing for me?_

"That would be aca-awesome," Chloe said. "I bet it would sound so amazing with all the professional pizazz you add to it."

"I bet you wouldn't need my professional pizazz to sound amazing."

Chloe smiled, softer this time. "You're sweet, Beca."

Beca returned the smile and took a second to get lost in her thoughts as she looked at Chloe. "Hey," she started, "it's still early, do you want to just walk on the boardwalk?"

"Yeah, I'd like that," Chloe replied.

* * *

It was nice, Beca discovered, to just take the time and walk with someone. She's spent so much time running from place to place that she's never had the time to take a breather. But now with Chloe, she finds herself wanting to stop the clock, and never having to go back to her short-term apartment and get back on the road. Being with Chloe was a calm in Beca's never ending storm.

They found a bench on the boardwalk and sat and talked until the sun went down. It didn't matter that they had learned so much about each other from the engagement party and just before at dinner, there was always something new and enjoyable to talk about. It was refreshing to Beca.

Once it got dark past dark, they both decided to call it a night and made the walk back to Beca's apartment. They didn't say much on the walk back, but it wasn't an uncomfortable silence, and the smile on Chloe's face proved to Beca that it's a permanent feature on the redhead.

"I had a lot of fun, Beca," Chloe announced as they reached Beca's steps.

"Me too," Beca said, and for the first time in a long time she meant it.

"Maybe I could get your number? So the next time we see each other won't have to be related to the wedding?" Chloe asked, seeming hesitant for the first time that night.

Beca chuckled a bit and pulled out her phone. "Yeah, that'd be cool. Maybe I could add some pizazz to your voice like we talked about." She immediately cringed after she said it, silently cursing herself for being so weird.

But Chloe just laughed and said, "You're cute, Becs, I'll see you soon." And with that she moved forward to leave a kiss on Beca's cheek, smirking at the blush that formed on the brunette's face after the fact, and waved as she walked back down the steps."

Beca mumbled a small, "Bye" after her, and for the second night in a row, she entered the apartment with a smile on her face.

The smile stuck as she thought to herself, _maybe I could stay here for a while_.

* * *

 **LA — Beca and Jesse's phone call (one week later)**

" _But something had to make you decide to stay_ ," Jesse pushed. " _What is it?_ "

"I just think there's something good here for me," Beca said. "So help me find a place to live."


	5. Simple

**AN: lol my bad, it's been what a year and a half? look, it ain't perfect, but i just felt like writing, you know?**

It had been three weeks since Jesse had helped her find an apartment. They'd found a two-bedroom in West Hollywood that currently had a bed and a foldable table in the second bedroom where Beca set up her mixing equipment. It wasn't much, but Beca's internal crises about taking the biggest risk of her life were slowly starting to become a weekly thing instead of a daily thing. Jesse eventually let the questions of why she was moving go and was instead helping her figure out how to move all of her things from her temporary abode in New York to her fancy new place across the country.

* * *

She'd seen Chloe exactly eight times in the time since their first date. Beca called the redhead 16 hours and 12 minutes after she got back to her Airbnb, but it's not like she was counting or anything. It took her three attempts to actually hit the call button on her phone but when she did find the courage the call went to voicemail. Beca had stared at the wall after hitting the end call ridiculing herself for calling so soon. Why the hell did she call after only 16 hours? She remembered Stacie telling her years ago that the standard waiting time was 3 days but Beca's brain malfunctioned enough to stupidly make the call.

45 seconds after the phone dropped from her ear – again, who's counting? – she heard a chime. A glance down brought a smile to her face when she saw the name 'CHLOE' on the screen and almost gave herself whiplash because of how fast she brought the phone to her nose to read it.

 _Sorry! I'm in class for another hour, but I'll call you when I get out? xx_

Beca let her head fall against the back of the couch behind her as she smiled.

When Chloe did call their conversation lasted 15 minutes and 43 seconds with plans of a second date. The smile didn't leave Beca's face for the rest of the day.

* * *

She had called Stacie to tell her about Chloe four days ago. Stacie, to say the least, went a bit berserk and she left the conversation with a warning to be careful, but Beca would call it a success. That didn't mean she was completely let off the hook, however, because now Stacie was enforcing biweekly Skype sessions so she didn't miss out on any of Beca's other life-changing decisions.

It was currently a Tuesday, which meant Chinese takeout from a small place Beca had found a few days earlier and her laptop sat in front of her on the couch while Stacie cooked dinner for herself through the screen.

"What are you going to do about work," Stacie inquired while she took a moment to step away from the stove.

Beca swallowed way too big of a mouthful of chow mien before answering, "Oh, I had an interview with Capitol yesterday. They said they wanted to bring me on as a producer."

"What!" There was a clang on the other side of Beca's screen as Stacie just about dropped all of her dinner into her sink. "Beca, the point of these calls is so you actually _tell_ me these things."

"Chill out, you psycho, this just happened yesterday," she shrugged, taking yet again a gigantic mouthful of chow mein.

Stacie glared at her through the screen before sitting down in front of her computer. "So you're going to produce again, like when you were in Denver. I thought the whole point of getting out of Denver was to tour again."

"Yeah, maybe it was three years ago, but if I'm in L.A. I'm closer to the production side and it's easier to start with that here," Beca said.

"You're not telling me everything."

Beca looked up suddenly, a confused expression on her face with noodles still hanging out of her mouth. "What?"

"That's not the only reason why you're going back to producing. I know you, Bec, you can't keep something from me forever." Stacie was pointing her fork at Beca with her eyes narrowed, and it took about 10 seconds for her eyes to go wide and say with a softer voice, "you're going back to producing because it's more permanent, isn't it? And you want to stay in L.A. for a while, don't you?"

Beca didn't say anything, and that was all Stacie needed.

"You weren't kidding when you said you were in love with her, huh?" When Beca shook her head slightly, Stacie sighed. "Oh, Bec, you're in deep."

* * *

The fourth time Beca saw Chloe, the redhead took her to a mini golf place in the valley, of all places. Let it be known that Beca Mitchell has never once stepped foot in a mini-golf course, and had never intended to during her time on this earth. But leave it up to Chloe Beale to say "I've got the greatest idea for tonight" while they were getting into her Honda to lead Beca to choose a blue golf ball because "there's no way I'm going with pink, Beale."

She knew Stacie would be howling in laughter at the way Chloe already has Beca wrapped around her finger, but those thoughts were thrown out of the window when Chloe grabbed her hand and pulled her over to the first hole, giggling the entire way. Chloe ended up completely kicking her ass, but if anyone asked if it was because she kept getting distracted every time the redhead would laugh or even just look at her in a certain way, Beca will deny it until the day she dies.

When they finished the last hole Chloe announced that they should get ice cream, so Beca ordered them matching cones in the small shop while Chloe found a seat on a bench looking out toward the streetlights.

"What made you choose mini golf?" Beca asked the redhead as she watched the girl try to catch her melting ice cream with her tongue before it reached her hand.

Chloe's eyes met hers as she swallowed the bite of the dessert she took, something flashing in them quickly before Beca could determine what exactly it meant. "I just think it's so simple, you know?" Chloe answered. "It's so simple but it's so fun. And I happen to love the simplest things, I just thought I'd share one of them with you."

Beca smiled when Chloe finished, leading the other girl to give a small one in return. She was about to respond when the seventeen-year-old kid working behind the counter told them he was closing up, so they stood up together to throw away their napkins.

Beca held the door for Chloe while they walked back to the parking lot, the entire time thinking about how she could get used to the simple things of Chloe Beale. And when Chloe laughed as Beca ran to the car and held the door open there, even though Chloe was the one driving, she thought that she could get used to loving them, too.

The drive back to Beca's apartment was relatively quiet, with music from Chloe's phone softly playing through the stereo. When "Georgia" by Vance Joy started Beca smiled, but instead of turning the volume dial up she began to sing softly as she looked out the window at the streetlights whipping by. She didn't turn to look at Chloe until the car pulled up outside of her new apartment, but when she did Chloe was already staring at her with glassy eyes.

Right as Beca opened her mouth to voice her concern, Chloe reached her hand out to lace their fingers together and took a deep breath.

"My mom used to take me to mini golf all the time when I was a little kid. She would take the day off of work during the summer and we would spend the whole day there and every time we would leave she would twirl me around and say 'I could just spend all my days with you, Bug.' And she would tell me she loved me and it would just be so _simple_."

Chloe didn't look into her eyes until the last sentence and Beca watched as the tears in the girl's eyes were just waiting to spill out but never did as if Chloe was willing herself not to cry.

"I've never told anyone that," she continued, "not even Aubrey. But with you Beca, I just feel so safe I can tell you anything."

Beca reached out a hand to cup the girl's cheek, thumb poised to catch any rogue tears that fell, and Chloe looked at her with so much trust and _something_ that she didn't know what to say.

Chloe closed her eyes before saying, "My mom died when I was ten, and I've stayed away from anything that reminds me of her. But when I'm with you, I just feel like I can be so simple with you and I'll still feel so happy."

The redhead gave a small smile then, seeming to break out of the trance she let herself fall into and squeezed Beca's hand that she was still holding on to.

"Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry," she said with a wet laugh. "I didn't mean to end our date with such a deep subject."

Beca shook her head so adamantly and brought her hand up to cup Chloe's chin and bring the girl's eyes back to her. "Don't ever apologize for that. Thank you for trusting me with this."

"Of course," Chloe whispered. "I feel like I can trust you with everything."

And when Beca kissed her it felt like everything she ever wanted in her life piecing itself together. Chloe Beale may not be so simple as she once thought, but as she kissed her with so much openness and passion, Beca thought she wouldn't mind learning to love every part of Chloe there will ever be.

* * *

"Oh my gosh, this would look perfect in your apartment, you have to get it."

"Chlo, I have to get actual furniture, not just more fake plants."

It was six weeks since she had hightailed her ass to L.A., the reason of which still unknown to Jesse, and two weeks since Chloe had asked her to be her girlfriend, boy wasn't that a story. The two girls were currently in an IKEA on a Sunday afternoon looking for furniture that Beca could fill up her new apartment with.

"I don't know, Bec, you need some green in your life," Chloe said as she put down the tenth fake plant that she had said would look good in Beca's place.

"How about I buy a whole set of green plates?"

Chloe made a face like she was trying to hold back a grin, but instead said, "don't be silly, that would totes ruin the aesthetic."

Beca laughed at that and grabbed Chloe's hand to pull her farther into the store, trying not to think about how she still gets tingles from just touching the girl and that the feeling might never go away.

"Oooh!" Chloe squealed, "Couches! You have to get the comfiest one, that's the law." She launched herself onto the nearest sofa and her face scrunched up in distaste that showed she had immediately outlawed that one and move onto the next. This one obviously met Chloe's standards and the girl sighed, content with her position. She looked so at peace, and it was so ridiculous that it was in the middle of an IKEA that Beca thought it was the most beautiful sight in the world. So beautiful, in fact, that Beca thought she wouldn't ever get over it that she lost control of the functions that connected her brain to her mouth.

"I love you."

"What?" Chloe froze her actions immediately, blue eyes locking into Beca's. "Bec-"

"I'm so sorry that was totally inappropriate," she interrupted, "forget I said anything. Just, um, should I get this couch?"

"Beca," Chloe's standing now, stopping right in front of Beca, and grabbing her girlfriend's hands, halting their frantic fumbling. "Did you mean that?"

And Chloe was looking at her with so much stability and something that looked a lot like hope that Beca knew the answer instantaneously.

"Of course. I mean," she backtracked, "I totally get if it's way too soon to say that to you, I just saw you on the couch and I just knew."

"You figured out you love me while I'm helping you pick out a couch?"

"Well, yeah?" Beca was nervous now, the calmness that Chloe's gaze had brought on was rapidly dripping away. "You just make my brain short circuit and I blurt out things and-"

"Beca shut up."

"What?"

"I love you, too."

Beca felt her entire world slow down and the only thing she could focus on was Chloe and the amount of love that was radiating off of the redhead. "Yeah?" she asked, a smile growing on her face.

Chloe brought their faces closer to where their lips were just barely touching and grinned while she nodded. "Yeah." And she kissed Beca in the middle of IKEA and everything was just so simply perfect.

"Mmm, and by the way," Chloe said as she broke the kiss but didn't make a move to step back, "You should absolutely get this couch."


	6. Touring Beca

**London - three years ago**

It rained nonstop for the first week and a half that Beca was in London. Beca found that to be rather ironic because she ran halfway across the world to get away from the reminders of the impending sadness that came from Denver. Beca stayed in bed for the first four days, prompting her to feel even worse because she had shown up on Cynthia Rose's doorstep with very little warning to just lay in bed all day. The other girl hadn't asked many questions, and Beca assumed she had figured things out after she heard her call Stacie and Amy one evening.

The patterns on the ceiling of Cynthia Rose's guest bedroom were starting to haunt her.

When Beca trudged out into the kitchen on the fifth day, the other girl was sitting at the counter reading something on her phone. Cynthia Rose looked up immediately, the surprise evident on her face as she took in Beca fully dressed with her hair done, going to open the fridge to take out the milk. It was silent between the two as Beca reached for the cereal and a bowl and spoon before sitting down opposite Cynthia Rose at the counter.

"So I think I'm ready to talk about it."

Beca's voice was more confident than she felt, and definitely louder than any time she'd spoken since she landed in the country. But now that she was closer, Cynthia Rose was able to get a better look at the shorter girl's face. There were dark circles under her eyes, giving away how much Beca has actually slept while she stayed in that bed. Her features were tired, but she was obviously trying to hide a lot behind her appearance. "Okay," Cynthia Rose said softly, "go ahead."

Beca sighed heavily and took a large bite of cereal before letting the spoon drop back into the bowl with a sharp clang.

"It's just," the confidence that was in her voice when she sat down flew out the window as Beca tried to come up with the words she thought she'd memorized, "I don't think either of us have really been happy for the better part of the last year."

That wasn't what Cynthia Rose was particularly expecting. "What do you mean, Bec?"

"We fought all the damn time after we moved to Denver. We fought before then, too, it just wasn't as bad as it was after we moved." Beca set down her spoon again after taking another bite and sank her head into her hands while sighing. "She didn't even want to go. She wanted to go to California, which is really ironic because I've wanted to go out there since I was in high school, But I got this job, you know? And it wasn't amazing but it was in the same city as Stacie and it would give me the boost I needed."

"Why did she go with you then?" Cynthia Rose asked.

Beca peeked her eyes over the tips of her fingers, but her head remained in her hands with her elbows digging into the countertop. "I think it's because I'm all she really knew, in the same way, she's all I know. We started dating sophomore year of college and it's only been her since. I think she went with me because she didn't have any other plan." Beca stared at her cereal again, almost angrily. She paused for a minute and looked like she was going to take another bite, but shook her head at the last minute and roughly shoved the bowl away from her with just enough force that the milk rocked out of the edge. "I just think I need a little bit of a break from everything, you know? I don't think I can do any type of a relationship, like, ever again."

Cynthia Rose watched as her friend shrank into herself, the exhaustion from everything washing back over her in an instant. "Beca, she was a girl who made a stupid decision and hurt you. And I know that was wrong!" she protested as she watched Beca open her mouth to give her retort back. "I know that was wrong, but you can't keep yourself from that forever."

"Not forever, CR," Beca replied, a bit of edge to her words, "just for right now, okay? She was all I knew, and if the only person that I trust can break me apart like this, I don't have it in me to trust someone else like that again." The brunette shoved another bite of cereal into her mouth before resting both elbows on the counter and sighing, signaling she was done with the conversation.

"Okay, Bec, just don't close yourself off from everything, alright?"

"Yeah, we'll see."

* * *

 **New York - four months later**

The first gig was a stroke of luck.

Beca was in New York visiting her old friend from college, Luke, after months in London shut off from the rest of the world and hunched over her laptop and mixing equipment. The two were in a bar in midtown Manhattan when Beca announced that she was making her own stuff again, and Luke lit up by saying that he knew a guy who knew a guy who could hook Beca up with a mixing gig at a club for one night only. It all came rather fast and suddenly Beca found herself behind a table of a packed club playing a show for the first time since college.

And she loved it.

Behind that table, Beca felt more alive than she had been since probably moving to Denver. She was playing her own music again, every creative decision was up to her, and she felt electric. She didn't say much into the mic, simply because she was in a trance watching people love her music, and the only words she said aloud were 'thank you' at the end of the night to a crowd who couldn't care less about if she was thankful or not.

Luke introduced her to a guy named Donald after her set and Beca found herself in front of a contract to play nightly gigs at the club the very next morning. Everything was suddenly moving very, very quickly. Cynthia Rose helped her pack up whatever she had taken to London and ship it to her unnaturally small studio apartment in Brooklyn while she played Wednesday through Saturday nights in that club in Midtown.

On the days Beca didn't work she tried to go out in the city and find things to do because sitting alone in an empty apartment began to drain her. It would remind her of the four days she stayed in bed in London, and the quiet would start to haunt her until she got up. She could get away with blasting music during the day because her neighbors weren't around to complain, but even that wore her to the brink of insanity. She needed something.

The random hookups started slowly.

Someone would come up to her booth during her set, and if they stayed around long enough for a few drinks afterward, they'd end up following Beca back to her studio and she would kick them out before the sun came up. It wasn't the best life, Beca knew that. The random people made up for the gaping hole that was left in her life, one that she knew would probably remain empty. And who knows, Beca thought, maybe it was better that way.

There were a couple people, a girl named Emily and another guy named Scott, that almost made Beca reconsider her no relationship pact. They were kind to her, although Emily was almost always _too_ kind, and she questioned whether or not banning herself from falling in love was even worth it. In the end, though, Beca knew she couldn't do it even if she forced herself to try.

* * *

Emily ended up sticking around even after Beca had her breakdown and told her she couldn't do a relationship, which meant more to Beca than being someone's girlfriend. Emily was also there a year later when Donald told Beca about the opportunity to tour, and sat with the shorter girl all night until she agreed to go on it.

Beca signed the contract at three in the morning on a Tuesday with Emily hovered over her shoulder. It was a small tour, six stops in ten days ranging everywhere from New York to Austin to Los Angeles. Seeing LA on the schedule made Beca flinch because there wasn't a doubt in her mind Alex had been waiting to skip there after they broke up. She didn't tell Emily that, even after the other girl notice her freeze up and immediately questioned her.

She spent the New York gig with Emily, the two getting slightly more drunk than they'd planned, and ended up falling asleep half naked in the taller girl's bed. Beca felt bad the next morning because as much as Emily said she was okay only being Beca's friend, it was still hurting her to be strung along every now and then. The last night before heading off to Miami, Emily brought a pizza to Beca's apartment and they ate it around Beca's poor excuse for a coffee table. The last piece of crust had been thrown into the now empty box and Emily finally asked the question that Beca hoped she would never be asked.

"Why are you so afraid of falling in love?"

Beca brushed it off at first, scoffing at how cheesy the question sounded. It wasn't until Emily wouldn't stop staring at her that she thought she should answer.

"I'm not afraid," she said.

"Bullshit."

"Okay, whoa dude."

Emily sat up straight after that, eyes narrowing and a single finger coming up to point at Beca. "That's bullshit, Beca, you're afraid of falling in love because the only person who you let in deep enough broke your heart and you're too scared to let yourself trust again."

"Em, why are you even bringing this up right now, I told you—"

"No," Emily cut off, "you told me absolutely nothing. You left me—"

"Oh my God is this about us?" Beca raised her voice then. "Are you serious? You're bringing this up now?"

"No, Beca! This is not about us this is about you in general not everything has to be about me!"

"Well you sure always find a way to make it about yourself, don't you?" The second it came out of her mouth Beca knew she was going to regret it.

"Fuck you, Beca." Emily stood up immediately, reaching for her purse and shoes behind the sofa and going for the door.

"Wait, Emily," Beca stood up so quickly she knocked the pizza box over, crusts and crumbs flying across the floor. "Emily I'm sorry you know I didn't mean it that way."

Emily had her hand on the doorknob, already facing to leave. She turned around slightly and made eye contact with Beca with slightly watery eyes. "Just have a good tour, Bec." And with that, she was gone.

Beca signed as she ran her hands over her face, turning around so she saw the mess on the floor she made with the pizza box. Of course she managed to mess up this one, too.

"Fuck"

* * *

Miami was huge. It was the biggest crowd she had ever played and she was so nervous beforehand that Donald found her puking in the alley behind the club. The high hit her as soon as she got on stage, and everything went back to normal for a bit. She could forget about her fight with Emily and focus on music, which was really why she was there in the first place.

She went back to her hotel with a girl she couldn't remember the name of, and if she reminded her the tiniest bit of Emily, she would never admit it.

Nashville was smaller but still gave her the temporary high. Austin smelled weird and the guys that came up to her afterward were so drunk that Beca raced back to her hotel alone and forced herself to fall asleep before she encountered anyone else.

She was in Denver the one and only weekend Stacie was back home in Georgia for her sister's wedding, and she tells herself it doesn't bother her at all. The guy she took home almost made up for the hangover she got from number of shots she throws back to forget about missing her best friend.

San Diego was like Miami, except without any stranger back in her hotel room.

Beca drank her way through Los Angeles.

Everyone in the crowd looked like Alex, no matter how much she told herself that was so insanely stupid. Beca didn't even know if the other girl was there, but the idea still made her sick. She finished her set and immediately went to the bar, ignoring Donald's suggestions to slow it down a bit. She didn't remember getting back to her hotel room, and when she woke up the next morning to catch a flight back to New York, she found that she really didn't care.

* * *

Emily, much to Beca's surprise, was waiting for her when she landed in JFK.

They made eye contact as Beca walked through the gates to security to get her bag, and Emily instantly rushed to give the shorter girl a hug. Beca relaxes instantly into it, thinking maybe she didn't mess this one up after all.

"I'm sorry," she whispered into Emily's shoulder. "I'm so sorry."

"I know," the taller girl replied, just as softly. "I'm sorry, too." She pulled back to grab Beca's duffel bag from the ground and kept her arm around her as she led them to the baggage claim. "I was thinking Pauly's for dinner? You're probably starving."

"Oh dude, I'm actually _so_ hungry."

* * *

They talked about the tour while they ate burgers in Pauley's, a diner not far away from Beca's apartment. Beca told Emily about the barbecue they ate in Austin, and how much she missed Stacie in Denver. Emily told her about the new guy that had started working at her office named Benji and how he wore a piano-themed tie on his first day. They made it through all of their fries before Beca brought up about what they fought about before she left because the ten days she was gone gave her a lot of time to actually think about why she's so messed up.

"I don't think I'm afraid of falling in love," she started and she watched as Emily dropped her napkin onto her lap and rested her elbows on the table to give Beca her full attention. "I think I'm just afraid of letting someone in that deep again."

Emily just nodded, and that gave Beca enough to continue.

"I was with Alex for four years. She knew everything about me and I knew everything about her. She knew every detail of my parents' divorce and I knew every bit of her messed up childhood, too. She knew all about me, and now she's gone."

"So are you afraid of feeling this feeling again with someone else?" Emily asked.

Beca thought a moment before responding. "Yeah, I think so. I'm afraid of feeling lost again."

Emily nodded thoughtfully again. "Okay, I get that."

"There is nothing against you in any way."

"I know, Beca," Emily said in a bit of a drawn-out voice. "It's okay, really."

"Okay, well, cool." Beca took another one of her fries and put it in her mouth to try not to seem more awkward than she already felt.

"Don't make it weird," Emily laughed.

"You ass, that's all I know how to do."


	7. Really, Really Good

"I want to be your girlfriend."

Beca is thrown back to two and a half years ago, panic-stricken, as she sits across from Emily on the floor of the taller girl's apartment.

 _Be my girlfriend, Bec._

 _Emily, no. Please._

Past-Beca is hyperventilating, thinking of all the times she gave too much of herself to one person just to be left burning in the end. She feels herself falling into the ground beneath her, the voice in her head screaming at her as Emily looks heartbroken four feet from where Beca sits.

"Beca?"

Current-Beca feels like she had just crashed through the water's surface, only to be thrown back into it when she makes eye contact with Chloe in the moonlight seeping through the blinds on her bedroom window.

"Yeah?" Beca's voice is hoarse, completely unlike how it did just moments before when she and Chloe were joking about what Aubrey had said in one of the many wedding planning meetings. Concern makes its way onto Chloe's face instantly, the corners of her mouth pulling into a frown so hard that Beca feels it pulling on her heart.

"Are you okay? Did you hear what I said?" Chloe pulls herself up onto one elbow so that she's looking down on Beca but doesn't make any move to inch closer to the other girl.

She is still thrown for a loop because of the memory she was just forced into, but the look Chloe is giving her instantly grounds Beca enough to clear her throat. "Yeah," she swallows, "yeah, sorry, I'm okay."

Chloe's still frowning, and her eyebrows crease together as she opens up her mouth to say something.

"I did hear you," Beca blurts out before the redhead can ask again. "I just, um—I'm sorry, I'm not good with this stuff." It isn't as honest as she'd like to be, and it isn't even close to the full story, but it's a start.

"I really like you, Beca." Chloe whispers it so softly Beca can barely hear her. Chloe's features soften as she says it, too, and she slowly lowers herself down back into the bed so her face is in line with Beca's on her pillow. "And I've just been thinking," she continues, "about what we've been doing for the past month. We go on dates, we spend the majority of our free time together when we're not helping with the wedding, we have deep talks in my car." Chloe laughs a bit at that part.

Beca laughs nervously, too, and tries not to tell Chloe that this is the closest she's let herself get to someone other than Stacie and Emily in over three years. She tries not to tell Chloe that she's scared out of her mind about how fast this is moving. She tries to ignore the feeling inside of her that's saying she shouldn't be trying _not_ to tell Chloe anything.

"I really like you, too," she whispers instead, just as softly as Chloe had.

"Then what are we doing?"

Beca pushes every part of her screaming her to stop down and tries to focus on Chloe. Because this is a good thing, she tells herself, she just needs _Chloe_. "Ask me again."

There's a hint of a smile seeping on to Chloe's face. "Beca Mitchell," she breathes, "will you be my girlfriend?"

Her mind is still spinning, and she's still terrified beyond belief, but everything vanishes as she sees Chloe smile the second she says yes.

Chloe smiles so brightly her teeth almost light up the darkened room, which isn't anything new. Although there's something different about this smile, Beca notes, something deeper inside of it, something more meaningful.

Beca lets herself be tackled into the sheets by the redhead, and as she kisses her, deeply (with more meaning behind that, too, she notes again), the parts of Beca screaming at her to run as fast as she can are drowned out by her own voice saying _this is a really good thing_.

* * *

They didn't plan on keeping their relationship a secret, really, they just weren't exactly telling anyone everything that was going on.

Chloe suggested that they don't tell Aubrey right away after she came back to Beca's apartment after a particularly stressed wedding planning meeting. _I love her, Beca, I really do, but she can't decide on a damn centerpiece because she keeps switching between two._ The redhead had slumped to the sofa after Beca opened the door for her, groaning as her head hits the pillows Beca had purchased at IKEA a few days beforehand.

"Speaking of Aubrey," Beca calls from the kitchen where she stirs some sauce in a pot on the stove, "I haven't gotten any threatening messages yet. So I'm guessing the part of your meeting where you tell her about us didn't really happen."

Chloe sits up straight, head peeking over the back of the sofa to look over at Beca, her hair a bit messy because of the pillow. "That's not necessarily my fault."

Beca cocks an eyebrow up in question as she makes eye contact with the other girl across the room.

"It's not!" Chloe says indignantly. "Bree's just kind of stressed right now planning everything and I figured it would be better to just not bring up anything that could add to that stress. Like the fact that her best friend from high school is dating her best friend from, like, life."

Chloe situates herself to cross her legs up on the cushion as Beca walks over with two plates of freshly made pasta, giving the shorter girl a kiss on the cheek as a thank you as she plops down next to her.

"So we're keeping this a secret from her?" Beca asks. "Because when she finds out down the line she's going to find some way to blame this on me and I just want to make sure this was one hundred percent your idea." She recoils slightly as Chloe reaches out to slap her lightly on the arm that was holding up her plate. "Woah watch it, I've got hot pasta here."

Chloe takes a second to glare at Beca as she swallows the bite just took. "I'm not saying that, Bec. I'm saying we just don't explicitly tell her at the current moment."

"That sounds like keeping it a secret."

"No, Bec," Chloe lets her head rest against the back of the sofa in silent frustration. "I absolutely do not want to keep us a secret."

"I know," Beca gives her a small smile before reaching out and brushing back a piece of hair that fell down in front of Chloe's face. "I'm sorry. I just want you to be happy and I know keeping this from Aubrey isn't going to be great for you."

"I don't like not telling Aubrey things. Especially big things, like this with you. But I have a feeling that if she finds out about us she's going to think about this as well as the wedding it's going to make things crazy." Chloe sighs heavily before bringing her fork up to her mouth to take a bite of the pasta while pouting.

"Hey," Beca says softly while setting her plate on the coffee table in front of her before turning her body to fully face Chloe, "we'll tell her soon, okay? Together."

Chloe looks at her skeptically before mimicking Beca's actions. "You really want to be there? Completely vulnerable to anything she might say or do?"

"When you say it like that my confidence just flies out the window," Beca mumbles, immediately breaking eye contact to awkwardly look at her plate on the table.

"Oh shush," Chloe giggles. She grabs Beca's hand that's resting in her lap and squeezes softly before bringing her other hand to gently grab Beca's chin to steer her face back to look at hers. "You already said you would, no take backs."

"Wouldn't dream of it, Beale."

* * *

So, no. They didn't _really_ plan on keeping things a secret.

They didn't actually try to hide anything, either. The two always sat next to one another when they went out with Jesse and Aubrey. They practically spent every moment outside of work together, save for the couple of times Beca had to fly back to New York for meetings. Surely, Beca thought, anyone with eyes could figure it out that something was going between them.

Beca also thought that it was kind of ridiculous that Aubrey didn't figure things out until two weeks before her wedding, _six months_ after Beca and Chloe got together.

That didn't mean it wasn't amusing to her, though.

They were at a cake testing meeting that Aubrey had planned specifically for making sure her wedding cake was liked by everyone that she believed had an opinion worth listening to. So, in short, Jesse, Beca, Chloe, and Aubrey's parents. When the phrase "cake testing meeting" had been said to Beca three weeks previously she had choked on her water from laughing so hard that she had to physically leave the restaurant in order to calm down, a moment that Aubrey did not particularly appreciate.

They were late to said cake testing meeting by a good ten minutes because the good morning kiss Beca gave Chloe ended up being a good morning mmake-outsession that left Chloe far too flustered to properly get ready in a timely matter. That was _not_ the excuse that Chloe gave Aubrey as soon as she burst through the doors to the small bakery's backroom while dragging Beca behind her by the hand.

 _Again_ , Beca thought, _how the hell did no one notice?_

"I'm so sorry we're late, Bree, traffic was absolutely terrible," Chloe pants, falling into her seat next to the bride with a sheepish smile on her face.

Aubrey raises an eyebrow at her before saying, "that's okay you're here now. Just, you know, don't be late to my actual wedding," she adds while she glares at Beca, like Aubrey just knows it was her fault that they were both late.

Beca rolls her eyes as a plate with a small bite of cake is placed in front of her. "You know, Aubrey, for someone so spectacular at planning I didn't expect you to have a cake testing time scheduled for ten in the morning."

"Just eat the damn cake, Beca."

She's about to retort when she feels Chloe's hand slide to her thigh, a silent message to stop talking before Aubrey gets more upset.

Beca catches Jesse's eye across the table and he shrugs at her in a way that he did when they were in high school when she and Aubrey would bicker and he wouldn't know how to choose between his best friend and his girlfriend. It's sickening, how harshly Beca becomes nostalgic sometimes. She thinks it's partly Chloe's fault how sentimental she's been lately.

They sit in the small room huddled around a table for the better part of the next hour before they all settle on a cake that meets all of Aubrey's standards. Aubrey's parents file out of the room first, followed by Jesse who's talking details with the baker while Aubrey listens closely to make sure her fiancé doesn't miss anything.

Beca's still eating the cake they left at the table as Chloe stands up to put on her coat.

"You know," Chloe ponders, "for someone who was complaining about eating dessert so early in the morning you're sure making a feast out of it."

"Don't judge, Chlo," Beca states, mouth stuffed full of buttercream frosting. "It's damn good cake and they're letting it go to waste without me."

Chloe laughs before she says, "you're going to get more of it in two weeks, Becs, don't ruin it for yourself now."

"Yeah, I don't see that happening at all."

"Alright," Chloe snorts. "Just don't whine in an hour when you get a stomach ache from all the sweetness." She tosses Beca's jacket at her as the brunette gets up from the table to move toward the door."

Beca catches it with one hand and puts it on as she tells Chloe, "I haven't gotten a stomach ache from being around your sweetness all the time so I doubt some cake will do me any harm."

"Beca Mitchell, are you flirting with me in the backroom of a bakery?"

"You say that like this is the most scandalous place where I could flirt with you," Beca laughs as she wraps her arms around Chloe's waist.

"Maybe it is," the redhead defends. She brings her hands up to wind around Beca's neck, completely contradicting her next statement, "especially because Aubrey is right on the other side of that door."

"She's in wedding mode she won't be bothered to notice we're gone," Beca says, her face inching closer to Chloe's. "You smell like that buttercream we just had."

"Yeah, I'm going to pretend like that was a compliment."

"Of course it was," Beca says, right before Chloe covers her mouth with hers, the other girl seeming to completely forget where they were.

The two don't hear Aubrey until it's too late.

"Hang on, mom, I left my sweater—what the hell?"

Beca breaks away from Chloe so quickly that she stumbles over a chair behind her, only to be saved from falling to the floor by Chloe grabbing the lapels of her jacket and tugging her upright. When she turns around Aubrey is staring at both of them with wide eyes, mouth hung open, and hand still reaching out like she's still pushing the door open.

Chloe's the one who recovers first, voice stuttering as she tries to play it off as if she wasn't being kissed by Beca ten seconds ago. "Hey, Bree, uh—"

"What the hell?" Aubrey interrupts with the only thing that she seems to be able to say at the moment.

"Aubrey, look," Beca starts, "it's not really a big deal—"

"Not a big deal!" She interrupts again, and Beca can't help herself from rolling her eyes. She immediately stops when Aubrey continues with, "I'd say you _fucking_ my best friend behind my back is a pretty big deal, Mitchell!"

"Woah, okay—"

"Aubrey!"

"—I'm not _fucking_ Chloe, Posen, I'm dating her."

Aubrey just gapes at her again, eyes flitting back and forth between Beca and Chloe, like she's not too sure what to even think.

Chloe steps forward to grab the blonde's upper arms as if to steady her. "Bree, why don't you sit down." She guides Aubrey into the seat that Beca nearly fell over moments ago and she looks back towards Beca with worry displayed prominently on her face.

Beca bites her tongue to stop herself from saying that this could have been avoided if they had come out months ago. She figures now is not the most ideal time for that commentary.

The sound of Aubrey speaking again makes Beca tear her eyes away from Chloe's to look at the blonde slumped in the chair in front of her. "You're...dating?"

Beca nods as she hears Chloe answer with a soft "Yes."

"Okay," Aubrey's nodding her head slowly like she's trying to wrap her mind around things, "And for how long as this thing," she waves her finger between Beca and Chloe, "been going on?"

"Um five?" Beca questions as she turns her head to look at Chloe for reassurance. She finds the redhead staring back at her with a slight furrow to her brow.

"Six."

"Yeah, six," Beca says with more confidence as she directs her attention back to Aubrey. "Six months."

Aubrey springs to her feet so fast it actually startles Beca. "Six _MONTHS_?" she shouts. "You've been dating for six months and you didn't tell us?"

Chloe's hands are back to the blonde's shoulders to try to calm her down. "Bree, your wedding is in two weeks. We didn't want to get in your way of anything."

"But it's been six months," Aubrey says, much softer this time. "There wasn't any time in the last six months?" She's back to focusing her attention to Beca with a light glare in her eyes, like she's blaming Beca once again.

Beca sighs before she answers. "I don't know. We kind of just did our own thing, you know?"

"Are you okay with this?" Chloe asks her best friend. She reaches her hand out to wrap it around Beca's and the brunette watches Aubrey's eyes follow the movement carefully.

Aubrey raises her hand to rest on her forehead like she's trying to ease a headache that's suddenly formed from this news. "I mean, this is super out of the blue."

"But?" Chloe fishes.

"Yeah, I think I'm okay with it," Aubrey groans, her hand falling away to give Chloe a small smile.

Chloe squeals and drops Beca's hand in favor of tackling her best friend in a hug. "Oh, I'm so happy! This is so great, Bree, I have so much to tell you."

Aubrey makes eye contact with Beca over the redhead's shoulder and Beca tries to make her smile seem not at all uncomfortable.

"Okay," Chloe says when she releases Aubrey. "Well now that _that's_ all out in the open, we should go, they're probably wondering where we're at."

"Go ahead, Chlo, I just want to talk to Beca for a moment."

Chloe looks at Beca questioningly and it takes all of Beca's willpower not to beg for Chloe to stay as she forces out a comforting smile and a nod in reassurance.

"Alright…" Chloe says slowly, eyes narrowing as she turns to leave out the door that was still open from when Aubrey came in a few minutes ago.

When she seemed to be out of earshot, Aubrey spins around towards Beca and doesn't waste any time getting to the questions. "Are you serious about her?"

"I'm sorry, what?" Beca's immediately confused. "Of course I'm serious."

Aubrey sighs as she sits down in the chair that she has a habit of bouncing out of. "I'm sorry if this is blunt, Beca, but you've been against relationships since—"

"That was over three years ago, Aubrey, are we still bringing that shit up?" She feels herself getting annoyed with this conversation far quicker than she imagined.

"Yes, Beca," Aubrey scolds with a harsher tone. "We are still bringing it up because Chloe is my best friend."

"I know," Beca says.

"I care about her."

"I know, Aubrey. I do, too. No, wait." she cautions when she sees the blonde open her mouth to say something else. "I love her. Three years ago I had no intention of ever falling in love with anyone ever again, but I fell in love with Chloe. And this is the happiest I've felt in years, Bree. You should know that all I want is to make sure she feels the exact same way I do."

Aubrey watches her as Beca slumps into another chair near her. She doesn't say anything for a few moments but before Beca starts to think that she said the wrong thing she sees the other girl slowly start to nod her head as if she's thinking things through in her head.

"Okay," she says eventually,

"Okay?" Beca questions.

"You've grown up a lot, you know."

It's not at all the answer Beca was expecting from her question. "Um, thanks?"

Aubrey keeps nodding as she mulls over her next thoughts and it's starting to freak Beca out a little. She looks out the small window in the wall of the backroom as she tells Beca, "I'm happy for you."

Not the sentence Beca was expecting to come out of Aubrey's mouth. "Wait, seriously?"

"Yes, seriously," Aubrey says as she turns back to look at Beca fully. "I'm just thinking about how long I've known you, and how long I've known Chloe. I never once thought I'd see you two together." Beca's not too sure where Aubrey's planning to take this. "But I guess I see you two now, and for the last six months, and it seems so right to see you two together. And I didn't even know you were dating, I was just so glad you were getting along for the sake of my wedding."

Beca chuckles softly and when she meets Aubrey's eyes the blonde starts to laugh as well.

"You do seem happier, Beca. She's really good for you."

Beca just smiles as she looks at her hands fumbling in her lap. _Yeah_ , she thinks, _it's really, really good._

* * *

"You okay?" Chloe asks her as soon as she and Aubrey come out to the parking lot.

Beca doesn't say anything at first and instead stops to look at Chloe. The redhead tilts her head to the side when she doesn't get an answer, a frown forming on her face in concern.

She still doesn't answer, just walks up to Chloe to grasps the girl's cheeks to pull her into a kiss. Beca tries to pour everything into it; her conversation with Aubrey, the love she feels when Chloe looks at her a certain way, the overwhelming happiness that's taken over her entire life since she met Chloe in that ballroom seven months ago.

When she pulls back Chloe's eyes are hooded, and she smiles at the way the redhead's lips chase hers a bit before she steps all the way away. "Yeah, Chlo," she says, "I'm really, really, fantastic."

* * *

 **AN: So I jump time a lot in this story, if you haven't noticed. The current time is the farthest point in the future that I tell the story, so right now we're currently two weeks before Jesse and Aubrey's wedding and Beca and Chloe have been dating for sixth months. I'll do flashbacks every other chapter to show more of their relationship or to show more of Beca's past, if that makes any sense. Anyway, thanks for reading as always. Make sure to leave reviews!**


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